Wurf, Jerry, 1919-1981
Person
Found in 24 Collections and/or Records:
AFSCME Administration Department Records
Collection
Identifier: LR002437
Abstract
The Administration Office existed for a number of years in the 1960s and 1970s. When it dissolved, its duties were transferred to other departments. Its convention planning duties were handled by the Office of the President for a time and are currently enacted by the Conference and Travel Services Department. Its other duties were assumed by the AFSCME Business Office. Records in this collection include subject files on areas of interest to AFSCME; correspondence from councils and locals; and...
Dates:
1960 - 1971; Majority of material found within 1968 - 1970
AFSCME Business Office Records
Collection
Identifier: LR002432
Abstract
The AFSCME Business Office historically has handled financial matters for the union, and its activities are largely reported on by the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer. For a time, it was involved in the planning of the AFSCME biennial convention, as well as the numerous other, smaller meetings and conferences that AFSCME hosts throughout the year. Its name as of 2013 was the Financial Services Department, which includes Accounting, Auditing, and Benefits. This collection includes budgets for...
Dates:
1962 - 1988; Majority of material found within 1974 - 1980
AFSCME Career Development Program Records
Collection
Identifier: LR002369
Abstract
Seeing success in a program run by AFSCME District Council 37 in New York City that upgraded Nursing Aides to Licensed Practical Nurses, the International union wished to bring career development training to its members who were hospital employees. As such, in 1967, AFSCME began investigating how to develop hospital career development training programs. In 1969, AFSCME was awarded a grant from the Department of Labor and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) to work with...
Dates:
1966 - 1975
AFSCME Central Files Department Records
Collection
Identifier: LR002070
Abstract
The AFSCME Central Files Department was established in 1966 to which all departments within the international headquarters contributed correspondence and reports so all material related to a particular incident would be filed together. In 1974, Dr. Philip Mason of the Reuther Library at Wayne State completed a thorough records management survey of AFSCME and recommended that the Central Files Department be dissolved and that individual departments maintain their own records. His recommendation...
Dates:
1944 - 1974; Majority of material found within 1962 - 1973
AFSCME Communications Department Records
Collection
Identifier: LR002204
Abstract
AFSCME has produced a regularly published magazine since its inception. Publication duties for this organ and other materials were accomplished by the Education and Publications Department for the first twenty years of AFSCME’s existence. The 1954 Convention, however, passed Resolution 14, establishing a Publications and Public Relations Department. This new department would continue to publish the AFSCME magazine and other materials and would also take on new media public relations duties both...
Dates:
1967 - 2002
AFSCME Education and Leadership Training Department Records
Collection
Identifier: LR002636
Abstract
The 1960s began a period of significant growth for AFSCME, which meant an increased need for knowledgeable members and staff. AFSCME began an education program around 1962, and by 1966 the International Union had established the Education and Leadership Training Department, later known simply as the Education Department. This collection contains records of the Education Department, particularly in regards to the department's collaboration with the AFSCME Organizing Department, and...
Dates:
1950 - 1986; Majority of material found within 1967 - 1986
AFSCME International Executive Board (I.E.B.) Records
Collection
Identifier: LR001991
Abstract
The International Executive Board (IEB) is the top level legislative and policy-making body within AFSCME, except when the convention is in session. The IEB is responsible for interpreting the union’s constitution. The records of the IEB are maintained by the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer. Materials in this collection were pulled together from various shipments from the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer to make a comprehensive record of the proceedings of the AFSCME IEB. Some IEB-related...
Dates:
1935 - 2003
AFSCME Local 1733: Memphis, Tennessee Records
Collection
Identifier: LR001992
Abstract
Sanitation workers in AFSCME Local 1733 in Memphis, Tennessee led a strike in 1968 to gain union recognition. The strike lasted for 65 days and garnered national attention as Local 1733's campaign for labor rights became fused with the struggle for civil rights. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lent his support to the strikers by visiting Memphis and leading marches. While there, on April 4, 1968, King was assassinated. The strike was settled soon after King's death. Local 1733 went on to wage other...
Dates:
1962 - 1974; Majority of material found within 1968 - 1970
AFSCME Office of the President: Jerry Wurf Records
Collection
Identifier: LR001987
Abstract
This collection focuses on Jerry Wurf's tenure as AFSCME International President from 1964 until his death in 1981. Some information appears on an AFSCME affordable housing project that began prior to Wurf's election to the presidency. This housing project was one of the issues that led to a rift among AFSCME members and to Wurf's winning the presidency from incumbent president Arnold Zander. The bulk of the collection, though, represents the Office of the President's records during Wurf's...
Dates:
1959 - 1981; Majority of material found within 1968 - 1980
AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer: Gordon Chapman/Joseph Ames Records
Collection
Identifier: LR002096
Abstract
This collection primarily covers the end of Gordon Chapman’s tenure as Secretary-Treasurer, and all of Joseph Ames’s tenure. These years saw turbulence in the International Union’s politics where founding incumbent president Arnold Zander faced challenges from an opposing faction called the Committee on Union Responsibility (COUR). COUR candidate Jerry Wurf won the presidency at the 1964 convention. Gordon Chapman held the office of Secretary-Treasurer. In 1966, Chapman retired due to poor...
Dates:
1944 - 1973; Majority of material found within 1962 - 1972
AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer: Government and Civic Employees Organizing Committee Records
Collection
Identifier: LR000682_GEOC
Abstract
In early 1950, the United Public Workers union was expelled from the CIO for alleged communist activities, leaving behind an anti-communist group called the Government Workers Union. In February of 1950, the CIO chartered the Government Workers Union as the Government and Civic Employees Organizing Committee (GCEOC) and gave the new committee jurisdiction over federal, state, and local employees. In the next five years, GCEOC aggressively attempted to reach full union status within the CIO but...
Dates:
1939 - 1968; Majority of material found within 1950 - 1957
AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer: William Lucy Records
Collection
Identifier: LR001989
Abstract
The AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer oversees the general financial health of the international union, keeping records for its locals, councils, and the headquarters staff. The Office keeps files on council and local trusteeships, maintains per capita dues payments by locals and councils, issues charters to new locals, and suspends and disbands locals or councils when problems arise. William Lucy held this position for 38 years, 1972-2010.
Lucy joined AFSCME as a civil...
Dates:
1970 - 2001; Majority of material found within 1972 - 2000
AFSCME Organizing Department Records
Collection
Identifier: LR000682_OO
Abstract
This collection reflects the work done by and through the AFSCME Organizing Department, 1967-1972. Important subjects and people that appear in the collection include public employee organizing; recruitment; organizations; elections; strikes; Chairman of the AFSCME Judicial Panel Joseph L. Ames; International Field Director P.J. Ciampa; and International President Jerry Wurf.
Dates:
1967 - 1972
AFSCME Political Action Department Records
Collection
Identifier: LR002343
Abstract
The Political Action department at AFSCME monitors political campaigns and ballot measures at the national, state, and local levels, and works to mobilize voters on issues related to public employees. The AFSCME Political Action Department records relate to these activities and contain correspondence, memos, notes, reports, fliers, scripts, surveys, survey data, training manuals, and VHS and audiocassette tapes. Includes information on candidates and AFSCME member views.
Dates:
1972-2003
AFSCME Power to the Public Worker Oral Histories
Collection
Identifier: LOH002243
Abstract
In 1973, Richard N. Billings and John Greenya contracted with AFSCME to write a history of the union, resulting in the 1974 book
Dates:
1973-03-26 - 1973-07-26
AFSCME Program Development Department Records, Part 1 and 2
Collection
Identifier: LR002203
Abstract
The AFSCME Program Development Department was created in January of 1973 to deal with matters such as health care, the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, employee protections, career development, and sex discrimination. It was funded by federal grant money until 1975 when the funds ran out, the department was disbanded, and its several functions were taken over by other AFSCME departments.
The records in Part I reflect the Department's concerns with women's issues, sex...
Dates:
1964 - 1977; Majority of material found within 1973 - 1975
AFSCME Public Policy Analysis Department Records
Collection
Identifier: LR001994
Abstract
Part 1 of the AFSCME Public Policy Analysis Department Records focuses on Deinstitutionalization, particularly at Wayne County General Hospital (WCGH). The hospital complex was located in western Wayne County, Michigan, approximately 16 miles west of downtown Detroit. Deinstitutionalization represented a major change in philosophy for mental health treatment delivery and was the term given to the process whereby mentally ill patients were moved out of large public hospitals and into smaller...
Dates:
1963 - 1984; Majority of material found within 1973 - 1981
AFSCME Publications
Collection
Identifier: LR002503
Abstract
AFSCME Publications is a collection comprised of serials created and collected by AFSCME International, District Councils, and Locals. The collection also contains material produced as part of AFSCME’s biannual international conventions and articles published about AFSCME from an academic standpoint. The publications in this collection arrived at the Reuther Library over time and came from multiple sources.
The collection features AFSCME’s official publication, which was first known...
Dates:
1935 - 2019; Majority of material found within 1937 - 1973
Found in:
Walter P. Reuther Library
/
AFSCME Publications
Al Bilik Papers
Collection
Identifier: LP001501
Abstract
Al Bilik served on the District Council 51, Cincinnati, Ohio and was an active labor member within the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Sensitive to the relationship of the larger international union working with and depending on the strength of locals and councils, he helped American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Union members Victor Gotbaum, Rob Hastings, Jerry Wurf, Joseph Ames, Norm Schut and Father Albert...
Dates:
1961 - 1967; Majority of material found within 1962 - 1964
Found in:
Walter P. Reuther Library
/
Al Bilik Papers
Bob Johnson Papers
Collection
Identifier: LR001345
Abstract
Bob Johnson served Michigan’s AFSCME organizations in various roles throughout his life. In his early career, he helped Local 1182 organize and negotiate to win their first contract. Metropolitan Council 23 in Detroit elected him president soon thereafter. Johnson succeeded in his campaign to become president of Michigan’s powerful AFSCME District Council 25 in 1978. In 1980, he was elected an international vice president of the union to represent workers in the state of Michigan. Johnson died...
Dates:
circa 1960s-1982
Found in:
Walter P. Reuther Library
/
Bob Johnson Papers
David Hershey Posters
Collection
Identifier: LAV002699
Abstract
David W. Hershey worked for AFSCME Michigan Council 25 from about 1975 until 1989. He acquired these advertisement posters during that time from an advertising agency hired by AFSCME International. The ads ran in major newspapers and magazines, but at least one was never published.
Dates:
circa 1970s-1980s
Found in:
Walter P. Reuther Library
/
David Hershey Posters
Jerry and Mildred Wurf Papers
Collection
Identifier: LP001132
Abstract
Jerry Wurf started his work in AFSCME in New York's Council 37, becoming executive director by 1959. He went on to serve as AFSCME International president from 1964 until his death in 1981. He also served as a vice-president of the AFL-CIO. Throughout his career, Wurf was actively involved in campaigns for civil liberties; anti-nuclear and peace movements; workers' education, health, and rights; Jewish concerns; and domestic politics, especially related to the Democratic Party....
Dates:
1936 - 1982
Jerry Wurf: Labor's Last Angry Man Oral Histories
Collection
Identifier: LOH001093
Abstract
Between November 1981 and January 1982, Joseph C. Goulden interviewed 10 individuals associated with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and influential, longtime leader Jerry Wurf, for Goulden's biography of Wurf,
Dates:
1981-11-03 - 1982-01-19
Joseph Goulden Papers
Collection
Identifier: LP001093
Abstract
Joseph C. Goulden’s biography of AFSCME president Jerry Wurf was published in 1982. Wurf, a controversial figure in the labor movement, served as president from 1964 until his death in 1981. He gave Goulden permission to write about him, “warts and all,” and facilitated access to AFSCME records and employees. Goulden interviewed AFSCME staff including Al Bilik, Victor Gotbaum, Joseph Ames, William Hamilton, Leamon Hood, Donovan McClure, Gerald McEntee, and Ernest Rewolinski, as well as United...
Dates:
1981 - 1982
Found in:
Walter P. Reuther Library
/
Joseph Goulden Papers